African Diaspora Archaeology Network

09/04/2026

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/04/un-vote-world-map-mercator-equal-earth-africa

Togo-sponsored resolution called to phase out traditional map that depicts continent as similar size to Greenland

09/03/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CeE5i5bBH/

09/03/2026

https://hammerandhope.org/article/afro-brazilian-photographer-black-resistance

Lázaro Roberto and the Zumví Archive weave memory and identity.

09/03/2026

https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2026/08/17/a-researcher-at-the-old-state-house-discovered-slave-auctions-had-once-taken-place-on-museum-grounds-her-bosses-told-her-to-stay-silent

“They immediately said, ‘Do not mention this to anyone.’ They said to keep researching, but don’t say anything about it because they might be watching,“ researcher Tessa Wahlquist said. “They” were members of the Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders administration.

09/03/2026

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/ng-interactive/2026/aug/27/african-diaspora-descendants-citizenship

Cassandra Lewis’s Benin citizenship reflects a broader push by African countries to reconnect with diaspora descendants

09/03/2026

Announcing the 2026 Frederick Douglass Book Prize Finalists
Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition (Gilder Lehrman Center or GLC) today has announced the finalists for the twenty-eighth annual Frederick Douglass Book Prize, one of the most prestigious awards for global studies of slavery, opposition to it, and the experiences and resistance of enslaved people. Jointly sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History in New York City and the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University’s MacMillan Center, this annual prize of $25,000 recognizes the best book written in English on the topics of slavery, resistance, or abolition copyrighted in the preceding year.
The three finalists for the 2026 prize are: Kim F. Hall for “The Sweet Taste of Empire: Sugar, Mastery, and Pleasure in the Anglo Caribbean” (University of Pennsylvania Press); Casey Schmitt for “The Predatory Sea: Human Trafficking and Captivity in the Seventeenth-Century Caribbean” (University of Pennsylvania Press); and Daniel Lord Smail for “Magdalena Coline: A Life Beyond Slavery in Mediterranean Europe” (Princeton University Press).
The winner will be announced following the Frederick Douglass Book Prize Review Committee meeting in the fall, and the award will be presented at a celebration at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City in February 2027.

Yale Announces 2026 Frederick Douglass Book Prize Finalists Sep 1, 2026 New Haven, Conn.— Yale University’s Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition (Gilder Lehrman Center or GLC) today has announced the finalists for the twenty-eighth annual Frederick Douglass B...

09/02/2026

A terrific, insightful new article --

Black Heritage Sites and the National Register of Historic Places: A Snapshot in Time, by Holly Kathryn Norton, Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage, https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21619441.2026.2711499

Abstract: This article explores the historical underrepresentation and recent revitalization of African American heritage sites within the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Historically, Black heritage sites accounted for approximately 2% of total listings, a disparity highlighted by the social justice movements of 2020. However, recent data reveals a significant upward trend, with these sites reaching nearly 13% of annual listings by 2024. The author examines structural inflection points in 1986 and 1997 that codified ethnic heritage as an area of significance, while arguing that the primary barrier to equity has been a lack of institutional prioritization rather than the federal nomination process itself. Through case studies in Colorado, Oklahoma, and Oregon, the findings suggest that proactive state-level funding, community-led documentation, and the development of historic contexts allow the NRHP to successfully incorporate diverse narratives without requiring fundamental structural changes.

Keywords: NRHP, Black heritage, NPS, SHPO, preservation

09/02/2026

https://hyperallergic.com/how-fannuh-baskets-connect-liberia-to-the-us-lowcountry/

Gullah Geechee basket-weaving is rooted in an oral tradition carried by enslaved people from Liberia’s Windward Coast.

09/01/2026

Nominations for 2027 SHA Mark E. Mack Community Engagement Award

Greetings!

The Mark E. Mack Community Engagement Award honors individual researchers or research project teams who exhibit outstanding best practices in community collaboration, engagement, and outreach in their historical archaeology and heritage preservation work. This award is reviewed by members of the Gender and Minority Affairs Committee of the Society for Historical Archaeology. The submission guidelines and form are available on the SHA web site at https://sha.org/awards-and-prizes/

The award commemorates the life and career of Mark E. Mack and encourages diversity in the SHA and our profession by cultivating relationships between archaeologists and stakeholder communities. Mack was well known for his work on the New York African Burial Ground project. He was a professor of anthropology at Howard University and curator of the university’s W. Montague Cobb Research Laboratory. Throughout his career, he exemplified many of the qualities we value as best practices in community, stakeholder collaboration.

The deadline for submission is October 15, 2026. Please consider submitting an award nomination! Awardees will be announced at the Annual Conference on Historical and Underwater Archaeology to be held in Austin, Texas, January 6-9, 2027. First, second, and third place winners will be recognized by certificates and acknowledged on the SHA website. Please contact me with any questions.

Thanks very much!
Chris Fennell

Established in 1981, the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) J. C. Harrington Award is named in honor of Jean Carl Harrington (1901-1998), one of the founders of historical archaeology in North America. The award, an inscribed medal, is presented for a lifetime of scholarly contributions to the...

09/01/2026

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/office-of-the-secretary-of-the-smithsonian/2026/08/31/smithsonian-secretary-lonnie-bunch-looks-back-opening-african-american-history-museum-10th-anniversary/

Bunch, the museum’s founding director, recalls some of the behind-the-scenes moments that led to the doors opening for the first time a decade ago